Researchers Study Receptors' Role in Estrogen Production

With about 1 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed each year, the disease poses a formidable challenge to researchers. But scientists are nevertheless making considerable headway. In a recent study, doctors Andrew Dannenberg and Kotha Subbaramaiah of Weill Cornell Medical College identified the mechanisms by which two receptor proteins, EP2 and EP4, are involved in estrogen production. Estrogen has long been known to play a role in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, which makes up 75 percent of breast cancer cases.

Dannenberg and Subbaramaiah specifically looked at estrogen production regulated by aromatase, a protein whose activity increases in ER-positive breast cancer cells.